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Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali excelled as India shocked third-seeded Georgia 3-1 at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday (August 3).
Experienced campaigner Humpy pulled off a sensational win over one of the top players in the women’s circuit, Nana Dzagnidze, in the sixth-round match. Besides Humpy, Vaishali also stunned a higher-rated player, Lela Javakhisvili, to help India register a crucial victory.
In-form Tania Sachdev and Harika Dronavalli secured draws to help India win the match by two points.
Humpy, by the middle-game, was in complete command with one passing pawn pushed to the sixth and her queen, bishop, and rooks threatening to grab more material.
We have to face tough opponents ahead but our team spirit is high in Chess Olympiad - Koneru Humpy
Playing cautiously, the 35-year-old Humpy periodically forced the exchange of pieces and Dzagnidze resigned on the 42nd turn when the Indian’s bishop and queen threatened to win a piece.
“I am not thinking of medals at this stage of the tournament as we still have to play many more tough teams like Ukraine and so on. Our team spirit is high and whenever in need of victory, always any one player from the team would shine,” Humpy said to reporters.
Humpy, wielding Whites, later admitted that she was completely surprised by the choice of Benoni's defense by Nana and played a couple of dubious moves in the first few minutes. Nana was in a pleasant position but it soon turned ugly with some precise positional play by Humpy who got her act together.
“I am playing after two-and-a-half years and really struggled in the first few. Today too my game was long as usual,” she added.
However, Vaishali and Javakhishvili battled in the Spanish Opening, with the former on the aggressive side. The play was focussed on the Queen’s side for the most part, and Vaishali sacrificed a rook for a bishop on the 17th turn and netted two pieces for it. She pocketed a point after 36 moves.
“It is a very important win against Georgia, more so as we head into the rest day tomorrow [on Thursday. Initially there was some pressure as we were short on time but by the middle of the game it was fine,” India A women’s team coach Abhijit Kunte commented after the win.
The team shot into the sole lead with six victories to a total of 12 points.
Romania, the other overnight joint leader with India and Georgia, were held to a 2-2 draw by Ukraine. Azerbaijan trounced Kazakhstan with a 3-1 score while Poland whitewashed Serbia 4-0.
Gukesh continued his impressive show, registers sixth successive win in the Chess Olympiad
D. Gukesh once again produced a sensational performance as he carved his blistering sixth successive victory but his efforts went in vain as India B lost to Armenia by 1.5-2.5 in the opening section.
Nihal Sarin drew on the second board while Adhiban B and Raunak Sadhwani conceded losses.
India C, on the other hand, registered a 3.5-1.5 win over Lithuania while second-seeded India A was held to a 2-2 draw by Uzbekistan. At the halfway stage of the tournament, Indian teams are looking promising to bag medals.
